Ava DuVernay Talks Emotional Screening of ‘When They See Us’ With Exonerated 5 at ProducedBy 2019

"I never thought I could see that many tears come out of a human being for five hours."

Producers, students, and crew members alike flocked to Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California for the Producer Guild of America’s ProducedBy Conference. The two-day event featured discussions from prominent filmmakers, producers, and TV execs.

Sunday, June 9 hosted Ava DuVernay and her brilliant team (Netflix VP Cindy Holland, founder of Tribeca Enterprises Jane Rosenthal, and executive producers Jonathan King and Berry Welsh) behind When They See Us, the four-part Netflix series surrounding the controversial case of the Central Park Five. For anyone who is unfamiliar, five innocent black and brown males (Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana Jr., Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam) were unjustly convicted of beating and raping a white woman in Central Park. DuVernay aimed to h

During the panel, DuVernay said she was very grateful to be a filmmaker at a time when she can approach Netflix with an idea for four films, and even more so a company that allowed her to fly out Richardson, McCray, Santana Jr., Wise and Salaam to watch all four films together in what was a very emotional moment for everyone involved.

“I remember the first frame of the episode came up and my stomach just dropped I said, ‘God please, please… please let them feel like this is right and they were honored here and that their stories were told and their families were depicted in the right way,’” revealed DuVernay.

As for the men, they re-lived their entire journey over again.

“Imagine seeing yourself at the moment your whole life changed. The life of your family changed forever 30 years ago. They cried. They wept. The held onto each other. They wailed,” added DuVernay. “I could see the light on their faces and there are just tears. I never thought I could see that many tears come out of a human being for five hours.”

DuVernay and her team also discussed the challenges of bringing the 1989 court case back to the forefront and using it as means of highlighting America’s incredibly flawed justice system.

“The first episode will be about this portion of the case, but also show everyone what it feels like to be arrested as a young black boy,” said DuVernay. “How it feels to be in a precinct and precinct behavior, the kinds of behavior we are hearing are happening in precincts around the country as it relates to black and brown people.”

DuVernay also explained with great detail the plan she proposed for films two through four: “The second episode we are going to talk about bail and the fact that we have a debtor’s prison in this country. The fact that there are ppl in prison who are poor and innocent and there are people who are not in prison who are rich and guilty. We’ll talk about judges and juries and district attorneys and prosecutors. The third episode, we will talk about juvenile detention… How we’re locking up children in this country and putting them with adults and walking away in this country and then we will talk about the horrors of incarceration. And folks won’t even know we are talking about this because we are talking about this very famous case.”

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#BlackBoyJoy: Jharrel Jerome Is Hollywood's New Breakout Star!

[caption id="attachment_3059413" align="alignleft" width="774"] Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty[/caption]
There's a scene in When They See Us, when Korey Wise, played by Moonlight star and Emmy winner Jharrel Jerome, is being attacked in his prison cell by gang of inmates. He's desperately holding onto the cell bars and screaming for his life when a corrections officer walks over, beats his knuckles with a baton forcing Wise into the arms of his attackers. They pound on him and then blood sheds as he is stabbed in the flank with some object. Jerome grimaces with pain and grits his teeth, unleashing spit from the corners of his mouth. It's an intense scene that feels like trauma porn, but it's not, it's real life.
MUST READ: Blair Underwood: Ava Duvernay Made A Grief Counselor Available On The Set Of 'When They See Us'https://www.instagram.com/p/ByOWX6wHimp/
From the moment Jharell hit the screen, he played Wise to a tee. He captures his stutter, his naiveness, his fear. And when he's on the stand, his illiteracy, and frustration. Jharell delivered a performance so emotional, the pain feels unreal.
Backstage at the Emmys where he made history on Sunday night, he was asked about the Academy continuing to award stories that center on Black plain, the 21-year-old kept it 100.
"Unfortunately, I think our strongest stories are the stories of pain considering that’s what we go through on a daily basis. It is unfortunate that comedies or light pieces of work aren’t as praised and aren’t sent to the award season, " he said, adding, “The truth is our pain needs to be told. So if it has to be for the next 20 years where we are just painfully telling our stories until we can move on then I guess it has to be.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=_GdYrLliYFs
This is a young man wise beyond his years and with this immense amount of talent, charisma, and passion, it's no wonder why he's Hollywood's next big thing: